Change of Heart (part 1)

This is 'Change of Heart' from your book, Poorvi (Unit 4, Sports and Wellness). A change of heart is not an operation! It means changing the way you feel and think about something. Here is the first part, told in short.

Prabhat always wanted to win. He could not bear to lose, not even at marbles. Winning made him feel wonderful, and losing made him feel terrible. So if he felt he might lose a game, he would not play it at all: he took part only when he was sure of winning. Most of us play a game to enjoy it; Prabhat played only to win. One game he was really good at was badminton.

Then a new boy, Surya, joined the school. Surya was an excellent badminton player. On the last Friday of every month the coach held friendly matches in the games period, and this time Prabhat and Surya were chosen to play against each other. Prabhat was given the job of keeping the score.

Prabhat got ready for the match very seriously. Surya was relaxed; he walked about smiling and cracking jokes. On the court Surya won point after point, laughing all the time. But he paid so little attention to the score that, while he was looking elsewhere, Prabhat changed the scoreboard. That is how Prabhat won: by cheating.

Prabhat made a big fuss about his win, but Surya did not mind at all. He said it had been fun, and they should play again some other time. Later, your book gives the page Prabhat wrote in his diary that night: he was sure he would lose, so he changed the score, and nobody noticed. But he does not feel happy about his win. A win you got by cheating is hollow: it looks like a win from outside, but there is nothing inside it.